The Future
Key points:
61 percent of respondents were “very positive” or “slightly positive” about the future of small-market newspapers
Just over a third (34 percent) expressed the view that they were “slightly negative” or “very negative” about the future of their sector
The size of small-market newspapers—embedded within the communities they report on—are seen as considerable assets, and sometimes we undervalue this
Key challenges include resources, awareness, and attracting younger audiences
Finally, at the end of our survey, we asked respondents to share their views on how the industry might move forward. We used a series of open questions to ask about the opportunities and challenges facing the sector, while also exploring levels of optimism about the long-term health of small-market newspapers.
Local journalists are more positive about the future than you might expect
Pushing back against the popular narrative that the death of the newspaper industry is imminent,52 our respondents were predominantly optimistic about the future for small-market newspapers.
Across our sample, 61 percent of respondents selected “very positive” or “slightly positive” from the six options available to describe the future health of their industry. Only a small number of participants (7 percent) sat on the fence, declaring that they felt “neither positive nor negative” about the prospects for small-market newspapers.
In contrast, just over a third of respondents (34 percent) declared themselves to be “slightly negative” or “very negative” about the prospects for their industry.
Image 11: Respondents Positiveness About the Future of LocalAuthors’ commentary: why were 61 percent of respondents positive about the future for local newspapers?
Considering the level of job losses and shuttered titles we have seen in the past decade, the optimism of our survey participants might come as a surprise. This finding, however, reinforced similar ones from our qualitative interviews, wherein many interviewees told us that they were cautiously optimistic about the future of their industry.
Industry experts and practitioners are sanguine about the prospects for small-market newspapers for a number of reasons, including: their ability to tell local stories which often go untold by other media, existing relationships with their community and subscriber base, heritage and longstanding reputation, and the ability to support local advertisers that are often too small or niche to be effectively served elsewhere.
Many of our survey respondents expressed similar views, suggesting that some small-market newspapers believe they are well placed to weather the digital storm. As one survey participant told us: “Small-market newspapers have great potential to succeed for many years to come. To use a cliché expression, they control their destiny. Small-market newspapers need to realize their potential and continue producing the best hyperlocal news for their communities that residents can’t get anywhere else.”
This sense of optimism echoes earlier studies and reports, which found that many small-market newspapers had arguably weathered the economic and authoritative crisis of journalism better than their metro counterparts.5354555657
Challenges such as relevance, awareness, andcompetition abound
Of course, for all of the positivity and optimism we encountered, there are also very real challenges facing the sector. Examples of issues our respondents highlighted included: resources and revenues, attraction and retention of young audiences, recruiting young journalists, and a wider recognition and awareness of what small-market newspapers have to offer.
One respondent said, “We have noticed that many community members are unaware of community newspapers, sometimes because they’ve never experienced them before.”
The same respondent also noted that an increasing challenge, particularly in an age of social media and on-demand entertainment, is capturing the attention of audiences. “Time is a huge factor, too. Many people say they’re too busy to read a newspaper or do more than glance through headlines online. That’s a societal issue.”
The ownership structure of local newspapers can also be an issue for some outlets. Although many publications are independent, there are others that are part of larger chains. While this can help to unlock economies of scale for ad buys and technology (such as content management systems), it can also, at times, result in a uniformity which doesn’t allow for local flexibility.58
One respondent explained this dynamic from the perspective of their own paper:
Our newspaper has fewer than 5,000 readers. Our personal challenge is that the owners treat all papers the same, daily and weekly, when the challenges are very different. Personally, I think we are shooting ourselves in the foot at our paper by publishing our stories for free on our website, because we have no local competition. We are competing against our own print product with a free internet product that consumes staff time but doesn’t generate a lot of revenue.
Finally, we also saw a further acknowledgement of the challenges around trust and engagement, which permeate the industry as a whole. Noted one survey participant, “Many citizens also seem to be wary of reporters, even in a rural community. So any missed events just breed distrust as people take offense that things they are involved in aren’t being recognized in the publication.”
These concerns are part of a wider landscape of challenges identified by our survey respondents, which included: retaining advertisers, competing with citizen journalists, competing with social media, maintaining (and growing) readership, audience resistance to “paid” versus “ free” news, corporate ownership/leadership, credibility and competing with cynicism, an ever-increasing workload (even if working hours may be fairly stagnant), contending with the impact of national news outlets, and balancing a printed and digital product.
Many of these challenges are not unique to small-market, local newspapers. There are structural and economic challenges that radiate throughout the industry, but they manifest themselves differently—and to different extents—at each publication.
Opportunities
For many of our respondents, the secret sauce for small-market newspapers lies in the fact that they can provide a level of local reporting that other media simply cannot. “No other publications or electronic media offers readers the local coverage that a small newspaper can provide its community. The opportunity is there to succeed. The newspaper has to make the effort to find stories and to write quality work that readers will look forward to,” said one respondent.
In this regard, the causes for optimism many participants identified can also be seen as opportunities. Our respondents reported, for example, that their newspapers are often the only original news voice in a community—an observation that aligns with other industry observations.59 Others highlighted the strategic importance of doubling-down on ultra-local content and ensuring a broad spread of stories and people in their publication.
As one respondent recommended:
Be hyperlocal. Don’t be The New York Times or The Washington Post. Look to our past when small town papers ran everything happening locally, even social columns (which were essentially an early print version of social media).
Get off our high horse and be willing to cover the smallest event from time to time. Get local names/faces in the paper (and not just the same old ones that are in there every week).
This practical application was accompanied by a range of answers from respondents, which emphasized the benefits of small-market newspapers focusing on localness, trust, quality content, and developing real relationships with consumers and advertisers.
As several respondents observed, the size of small-market newspapers is an asset, not a weakness. Local journalists are physically and attitudinally close to the communities they cover, meaning that they are perhaps less likely than their counterparts at larger outlets to be detached from the hopes, aspirations, and experiences of their readers.
Noted one survey participant:
What makes small-market papers special is right there in the name—their size. I’ve worked at a variety of different papers, and smaller papers have the advantage of being more able to connect with readers because they are more well known around town. We run into readers in the coffee shops on a daily basis. They’re our neighbors. Our kids go to school with them.
And yes, this is true for journalists at larger papers, but somehow they feel more separate from the community as a whole. They are a more diluted population in a big city. But in our coverage area, our reporters have great byline recognition, and personal history and connection with people here. I think that counts for a lot.
Local journalists want us to stop portraying their sector so negatively
Finally, a challenge and opportunity for the sector which our survey identified is the need to change the conversation we are having about the future of local newspapers.
As a number of our respondents noted, the sector needs to stop talking itself down. Failure to do so means that the “doom and gloom” we project about the state of this industry risks becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.
As one survey participant commented, “[Our] biggest challenge is a prevailing belief among readers that print is dying. People associate the bad news about the big dailies with smaller, community publications. They are different business models, and the community model is more sustainable. But the public is not aware of that.”
Another respondent agreed with this, saying, “We are allowing the naysayers to kill our industry. We still offer something unique which residents want, but we allow the screaming voices of gloom and doom to convince people that we are worthless.”
Authors’ comment: we can change the conversationparadigm
Journalists and researchers can play a role in changing the discussion about the future of small-market newspapers. They need to trumpet successes more clearly, highlighting examples of innovation and impact.
We also need to recognize that the master narrative of job losses and declines in advertising revenues masks a more complex, nuanced picture. Small-market newspapers are experimenting with storytelling formats, identifying new ways to measure and embrace engagement, and using metrics to guide elements of their work.
Reflecting this creative reality and the community impact small-market newspapers continue to have should not be overlooked. Of course, new and emerging digital technologies, changes in consumer behaviors, and the prevailing economic conditions for the sector cannot be ignored. But small-market newspapers are part of a more subtle, sophisticated, and multifaceted landscape than most people realize. Industry leaders and researchers should not shy away from portraying this complexity. We look forward to being part of that conversation.